Almost two years after acquiring 21st Century Fox, The Walt Disney Company is shutting down Fox’s Blue Sky Studios. Blue Sky Studios was founded in 1987 and released thirteen feature animated films, including the Ice Age films.
The COVID-19 pandemic has negatively impacted many studios and it seems Disney can no longer financially support Blue Sky. A spokesperson for Blue Sky told Deadline, “Given the current economic realities, after much consideration and evaluation, we have made the difficult decision to close filmmaking operations at Blue Sky Studios.”
450 employees of Blue Sky will be impacted by the closure and Disney will be working with them to explore other possible positions. Blue Sky’s library and IP will remain in Disney’s control. An Ice Age series is already in development for Disney+.
Blue Sky was currently working on the film Nimona, directed by Patrick Osborne and inspired by the book by Noelle Stevenson, for a January 14, 2022 release. Nimona still had ten months of production left, but production is being stopped and it will no longer be released. The last film released by Blue Sky was Spies in Disguise, which Disney distributed in December 2019. It only grossed $66 million at the domestic box office and $171 million worldwide.
Source: Deadline
Working with them post-shutdown? Great, I can see them re-theming Dinosaur into an Ice Age ride, taking away any and all seriousness and scariness and making it a brightly lit fluff piece.